Reimagine campus physical spaces as part of institutional diversity, equity, and inclusion commitments¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 5 claims (5 for) · 1 study (1 review), q2 · 1 of 1 report an effect size · 5 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The article recommends that universities committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion and to being an engine of economic mobility 'must change, in part, by reimagining physical spaces.' Because campuses currently operate as territorial, surveilled, and symbolic defensible spaces, changing the built environment is presented as one necessary lever alongside social and cultural change. The review frames spatial redesign as a concrete, actionable dimension of inclusion work in higher education.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Institutional commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion; the article treats spatial change as part of broader institutional change, not a standalone fix.

Constraints¶

• The article states its new evidence is proof of concept, not definitive proof, and that future work must test whether territoriality, surveillance, and symbolism predict SES and racial gaps in belonging.

Target Learners¶

• lower-SES students
• racially minoritized students in higher education

Target Learning Goals¶

• sense of belonging at the university
• empowered use of campus public space

Affordances¶

• Universities As Defensible Spaces Framework

Claims¶

• Randomly assigned use of public space significantly reduced the SES gap in belonging, but the race-by-condition interaction was not significant [+W]
• Campus symbols such as antebellum architecture signal belonging to White and high-SES students and unwelcomeness to marginalized students [+W]
• Lower-SES students feel less comfortable behaving counter-normatively in public campus spaces but not in private spaces [+W]
• Students perceived as lower-SES take up less space in campus public spaces [+W]
• Lower-SES and racially minoritized students use less campus space and fewer public spaces, which is associated with lower belonging [+W]

Related Strategies¶

Examples¶

-

Key Sources¶

• Bart-Plange, D.-J., Henderson, K., Hoffman, K., & Trawalter, S. (2025). Critiquing and Reimagining Belonging in Public Spaces in Higher Education. Educational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-025-10061-z